The Evolution of Motherhood in African Feminist Literature
Location
Ponderosa Room B
Presentation Type
Presentation
Presentation Topic
African Feminism, Women's Literature, Post-Colonial Literature, Modern Literature, Global Literature
Start Date
6-3-2026 3:35 PM
Event Sort Order
50
Abstract
This thesis seeks to evaluate shifts in African women's maternal identities over time (1974-2024), across the diaspora, and within various indigenous and colonial contexts as demonstrated in selected works of Nigerian and Zimbabwean women's fiction. It uses theories of African feminism(s) and global motherhood to evaluate the gendered messaging in each work. The primary texts of the thesis include Buchi Emecheta's Second Class Citizen (1974) and The Joys of Motherhood (1979), Tsitsi Dangarembga's Nervous Conditions (1988), and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's Purple Hibiscus (2003) and Dream Count (2024).
The Evolution of Motherhood in African Feminist Literature
Ponderosa Room B
This thesis seeks to evaluate shifts in African women's maternal identities over time (1974-2024), across the diaspora, and within various indigenous and colonial contexts as demonstrated in selected works of Nigerian and Zimbabwean women's fiction. It uses theories of African feminism(s) and global motherhood to evaluate the gendered messaging in each work. The primary texts of the thesis include Buchi Emecheta's Second Class Citizen (1974) and The Joys of Motherhood (1979), Tsitsi Dangarembga's Nervous Conditions (1988), and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's Purple Hibiscus (2003) and Dream Count (2024).
Presenter Bio
Cassie Provost is a second year English Master's student and Graduate Teaching Assistant at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. Provost is interested in modern, women's literature that explores motherhood as an institution influenced by diverse cultural and political narratives about women's role in society. She presented a chapter from her undergraduate Honors thesis titled "Nella Larsen's Quicksand (1928) and the Gender Politics of Racial Uplift" at the 2024 NoLimits! Conference, and now is back to share some of her graduate thesis work.